Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-12-28

sang the by mn beginning:
"The bill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets,
Before we reach the heavenly fields
Or walk the golden Streets"
The Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, D. D.,
preached on s.Recreations. Good and Bad, +"
taking two texts: "First Corinthians.
chapter Z, verse 81 +: "Tbey that use this
world, as not abusing it )" and Judges,
chapter 16 verse 25 "And il came TO pass,
when their hearts were merry, that they
said, Call for Samson that be may make us
sport. And they called for Samson out of
the prison house and he made them
sport"
We are entering the gayest season of the
year. The winter opens before us the gates
of thousand amusements some of them
show you that amusemepts may be destruc-
tive, my other text will show that amuse-
ments may be under the Divine blessing
and direction.
There were three thousand people as
sembled in the temple of Dagon. They
had come to make sport of eyeless Samson.
They were all ready for the entertainDe emit.
They began to clap and pound. impatient
| for the amusement to begun, aud they cried,
Fetch him out fetch him out p Ynnder
see the blind old giant coming, led by the
hand of a child into the very midst of the
| temple. At his first appearance there goes
up shout of laughter and dersion. The
blind old giant pretends he is tired, and
wants to rest himself against the pillars of
| the house SO he saysto the ad wEo leads
him, 'Show me where the main pillars
are." The lad does so. Then The strong
man puts his right hand OF one pillar and
his left hand on another pillar, and, with
the mightiest push that mortal ever made,
throws himself forward until the whole
house comes down in thuuderous crash,
grinding the audience like grapes in a wine-
press. 'cAnd 81 it came t pass, when
their hearts were merry, that they said,
cali for Samson that he may make US sport.
And they called for Samson out of the
prison house; and he made them SPORT"
In other words: There are anusements
that are destructive, and bring down dIsas-
ter and death upon the heads of those who
practice them. While they laugh and
cheer, they die. The three thousand who
perished that day in GAIA are as nothing
compared with the tens of thousands who
have been destroyed by sinful amnsements
But the other text / have read implies
that there is lawful use of the world as
we'll as an unlawful abuse of 1t, and the
difference between the man Christian and
the man un Christian is, that in the former
lease, the man masters the world, while in
the latter case the world masters him. =
For whom did God make this grand and
beautiful world ? For whom this wonder.
full expenditure Of color, this gracefulness
of line, this mosaic of the ground, this
fresco Of the sky, this glowing fruitage ol
nl,o,1 md mi, ri fill ~
the tempest, in which the tree branches
flute, and the winds trumpet and the thun-
ders drum, and all the splendors of the
earth and sky come clashing their cymbalsi
For whom did God spring the arched bridge
of colors resting upon buttresses of broken
storm cloud For whom did he gather the
upholstery of fire around the window of the
setting sun? For all men but more espe-
cially for his own dear children.
| If yOn build la,ge mansion and spread
a great feass after it to celebrate the com.
pletiOn of the structure, do you allow
strangers to come in aud occupy the place
while yon thrust your own children in the
kitchen or the barn or the fields? Oh no.
You say, 81 am very glad to see strangers
in my mansion, but my own sons and
daughters shall have the first right there. I"
Now God has built this grand mansion of a
world, and he has spread a glorious feast in
it, and while those who are strangers to
His grace may come in, think that God
especially intends to give the advantage to
His own children, those who are the sons
and the daughters of the Lord Almighty,
those who through grace can look up and
say, s'Abba, Father.'' You cannot make
me believe that God gives more advantages
to the world than He gives to the Church
bought by His own blood. If, therefore,
people of the world have looked with do
lorous sympathy upon those who make pro-
| fession of religion, and have said, "Those
new converts are going down into privation
and into hardship. Why did not they tar
| ry little longer in the world and have
some of its enjoyments and amusements
and recreatons ?" / say to such men of the
world, s.You are greatly mistaken" and
before get through will show that those
people who stay ut of the kingdom of God
have the hardships and SELF denials, while
| those who come in have the joys and the
| sarisfsctions.
This morning, in the name of the King
of heaven and earth, serve writ of eject
ment upon ali the sinful and polluted who
have squatted on the domain of earthly
pleasure as though it belonged to them,
while claim, in behalf of the good and the
| pure anu tnc IIuo, tuc o'cIudi inuCiitouCc
which God has given them.
Hitherto, Christian pbilanthropists, cleri-
cal and lay, have busted themselves chiefly
| in denoupciDg sinful recreAtions but l feel
we have no right to staud before men and
women in whose hearts there is desire for
recreation amounting to positive necessity,
denouncing this and that and the other
thing, when we do not propose to give
| them something better. Gid helping me
this morning, and with reference to my
last account, I shall enter upon sphere
not usual in sermonizing, but subject
which think ought to be presented at this
time. propose now to lay before you
some of the recreatinns which are not only
innocent. but positively helpful and ad
vantageous.
In the fist place, commend. among in
door recreations mu-ic, vocal and instru
mental. Among the first things created
WAS the bird so that the earth might havt